in|discussion
This public lecture series is a forum to discuss contemporary issues and current research in typography, art, design, material culture, critical theory, pedagogy, philosophy, society and technology.

Niamh O'Suillivan 7th March 2012

in|discussion

Public lecture series 2011-12

Niamh
O’Sullivan

‘The Black Line Drawn Across History’: John
Mulvany and Irish Political Imagery

6.30pm Wednesday, 7 March
2012

Lecture Room G6, School of Art Design and Printing

Dublin
Institute of Technology, 41 Mountjoy Square, Dublin
1

Niamh O’Sullivan is Professor Emeritus of Visual
Culture (National College of Art and Design). She writes on nineteenth century
Irish, Irish-American and French art and popular culture. She won the Irish-American Cultural Institute ‘Award for Pioneering
Irish-American Scholarship’, in 1998 and 2003. Her book, Aloysius O’Kelly: Art, Nation, Empire was published by
Field Day in 2010 . She curated the millenium exhibition
Re:Orientations. Aloysius O’Kelly: Painting, Politics and Popular Culture
at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, 1999-2000. She also
has research interests in art and museum education. She is
currently a Director of the Irish Museums Trust, and on the advisory committee
of the Royal Irish Academy Irish Art and Architecture, vol. 5.

John
Mulvany’s nineteenth-century Irish paintings place visual art at the centre an
emergent cultural and political nationalism, traditionally perceived as the
preserve of poets and playwrights, journalists and politicians. His historical
paintings were no incidental exercise in nostalgia, but purposeful, positioning
images, designed to press powerful memories into contemporary political use. If
out of violence and trauma comes renewed resolve, Mulvany’s Battle of
Aughrim may be seen as an exemplification of Ireland’s glorious past. His Irish political portraits were conceived
to summon the injustices of history to mind, and act as rallying calls in the
present. Mulvany thus saw himself as creating images of hope, and incitement to
action. His commitment to the cause was unwavering, and brought him into the
line of fire of one of the most celebrated murders of the nineteenth century.

All are
welcome to this free event.

To secure
your place, please book by email:indiscussionadp@gmail.com

in|discussion a forum on contemporary issues and current research in
typography, art, design, material culture, critical theory, pedagogy,
philosophy, society and technology. Updates on the lecture series at: http://indiscussionadp.blogspot.com/